Bottarga is the Italian name for a delicacy of salted, cured fish roe, typically of the grey mullet or the bluefin tuna (bottarga di tonno), frequently found near coastlines throughout the world, that often is featured in Mediterranean cuisine and consumed in many other regions of the world. The food bears many different names and is prepared in several different ways.

The product is similar to karasumi, the softer cured mullet roe from Japan, Guneoran, the cured mullet or freshwater drum from Korea and East Asia. Also known in Egypt as "batarekh" where it's known to be the origin of the word from the Coptic (Egyptian language).

Contents

Names and etymology

The English name, bottarga, was borrowed from Italian.[1] The Italian form is thought to have been introduced from the Arabicbuṭarḫahبطارخة (plural buṭariḫبطارخ), also derives from Byzantine Greekᾠοτάριχον (oiotárikhon) < ᾠόν 'egg' + τάριχον 'pickled'.[1][2][3]

The Italian form can be dated to ca. 1500, since the Greek form transliterated into Latin as ova tarycha occurs in Bartolomeo Platina's De Honesta Voluptate (ca. 1474), the earliest printed cookbook, and an Italian manuscript dating shortly afterward that "closely parallels" this cookbook attests to botarghe in the corresponding passage.[4] The first mention of the Greek form (oiotárikhon) occurs in the eleventh century in the writings of Simeon Seth, who denounced the food as something to be "avoided totally",[5] although a similar phrase may have been in use since antiquity in the same denotation.[6]

It has been suggested that the Copticoutarakhon might be the intermediate form between Greek and Arabic,[1] whereas examination of dialectical variants of Greek ᾠόν 'egg' include Pontic Greekὠβόν (traditionally where the mullets are caught) and ὀβό or βό in parts of Asia Minor.[2] The modern Greek name comes from the Byzantine Greek, substituting the modern word αυγό for the ancient word ᾠóν.

Preparation

Bottarga is made chiefly from the roe pouch of grey mullet. Sometimes it is prepared from Atlantic bluefin tuna (bottarga di tonno rosso) or yellowfin tuna.[7] It is massaged by hand to eliminate air pockets, then dried and cured in sea salt for a few weeks. The result is a hard, dry slab that sometimes is coated in beeswax for preservation purposes.[8][9] Not all bottarga is coated in beeswax as some producers simply keep intact the natural casing of the roe, which contains the eggs securely once dried and salted.[9][10] The curing time may vary depending on the producer and the desired texture as well as the preference of the consumers, which varies by country.

Regions

Sometimes called the caviar of the south, bottarga usually is sliced thinly or grated when it is served. The delicacy currently is served in many regions, including the following.

Croatia

In Croatia, the delicacy is known as butarga or butarda. It is usually fried before serving.

France

In the French region, Provence, it is named Poutargue and produced in the city of Martigues.[11] It also may be called boutargue in France.

Greece

In Greece, avgotaraho is produced primarily from the flathead mullet caught in Greek lagoons. The whole mature ovaries are removed from the fish, washed with water, salted with natural sea salt, dried under the sun, and sealed in melted beeswax.

Italy

In Italy, it is best known in Sicilian and Sardinian cuisine as bottarga; its culinary properties may be compared to those of dry anchovies, although it is much more expensive. Often, it is served with olive oil or lemon juice as an appetizer accompanied by bread or crostini. It is also used in pasta dishes.[8][10]

Spain

Bottarga in Spain is produced and consumed mainly in the country's southeastern region, in the Autonomous Community of Murcia and the province of Alicante. It is usually made from a variety of roes including, among others, grey mullet, tuna, bonito, or even black drum or common ling (the latter two somewhat cheaper and less valued). Much of its production is centered around the town of San Pedro del Pinatar, to the shores of the Mar Menor, where there are also salt ponds.

United States

The Anna Maria Fish Company in the Cortez Fishing Village located in Manatee County, Florida alongside a recently established and growing company named, "Gulf Coast Caviar" also located in Sarasota, Florida processes grey mullet roe into its bottarga that they sell locally, ship internationally, and make available to a few restaurants in the Gulf of Mexico region near Sarasota Bay.[17] The county tourist bureau states that the process of making bottarga was depicted in Ancient Egyptian murals and that documentation from the 1500s exists that the Native Americans along the western coast of Florida were consuming dried mullet roe when encountered by European explorers.

Norway

Hrogn AS from the Arctic Norwegian town of Tromsø is an innovative artisanal producer of bottarga made from north-Atlantic cod (Gadus Morhua). The production is done by hand and the bottarga is left to dry outside during the cold winter months on the Norwegian dry-racks traditionally used for stockfish. The bottarga is usually dried for 10-15 weeks.

^Hughes & Wasson 1947, p. 415, n4. Italian MS in the Bitting Collection in the Rare Book Room of the United States Library of Congress. In Platina, the word is the Latin transliteration of "ὠβά τάριχα"

1893 text

“Botarga. The roe of the mullet pressed flat and dried; that of commerce, however, is from the tunny, a large fish of passage which is common in the Mediterranean. The best kind comes from Tunis.” —Smyth’s Sailor’s Word-Book. Botargo was chiefly used to promote drinking by causing thirst, and Rabelais makes Gargantua eat it.

This text comes from a footnote on a diary entry in the 1893 edition edited by Henry B. Wheatley.